April 08, 2010
Clothe Yourself
I’m going through my closet and getting rid of old clothes. I have to admit that at first it was quite painful. Those clothes represent who I used to be…and who I thought I could become again. Never mind that I couldn’t button the pants or comfortably cross my arms in a jacket. Regardless of the fact that the clothes are two sizes too small and no longer in style, I have a mental and financial investment in them. As believers we’re to, “…have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:9-10 NIV) Even though our old self no longer fits, I suspect that more than a few of us have some pieces hanging in that closet.
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Gail;
-----If we pay attention to Paul’s use of verb tense we can gain some insight into why some clothes seem to hang around in the closet. The new self has been put on. The putting of it on is completed, the choice to do so is final. But even though it has been put on, it is not a completed garment. It is yet being renewed. The transformation by the renewal of your mind at Romans 12:2 corresponds with Col 3:9-10. And II Corinthians 3:18 confirms that we are in an ongoing process of transformation into His likeness, “from one degree of glory to another.” It is as though we have put the new nature on less to go to the ball and more to go to the tailor. It is definitely a new garment, but it is an unfinished one.
-----However, we still must go to the ball occasionally, or at least to the market. We can not stand on the tailor’s stool perpetually. But we are not as comfortable in unfinished clothing as we are with the old stuff we have been used to wearing for so long. We don’t quickly find our fit with some of the changes and additions the tailor has made, and sometimes we even put them on backwards. So maybe, to feel more secure at the ball or market, we grab an old vest or tie out of the closet to cover for what changes in the new garment are yet confusing us.
-----Therefore, it is good to acclimate early and well to one particular part of the new nature - humility. Humility can forebear the discomforts of the learning and practicing involved in the renewal process. It does not expect too much from one’s self, and it does not press to use new skills beyond one’s acquired level of expertise. While going to the ball is still an option, wearing the new garment is yet advisable, and limiting one’s dance moves accordingly is what becomes beneficial.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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